Grapes are easy to grow, but hard to protect from birds. The first year our grape vines produced, I decided to hold off on netting our grapes, until I saw the first sign of birds munching on them. Well, the very next morning all of our grapes were gone. Clearly the wait and see approach was the wrong approach to take.

Having learned from the experience, we netted our grapes as soon as they set fruit last year. And that worked brilliantly, until a mocking bird figured out how to get inside of our nets. She had quite the feast at our expense, and we were left with just a few grapes (not grape bunches) to sample.

But that’s all in the past. This year, we will be the ones to eat our grapes. And we’ve taken drastic measures to ensure that it ends up that way … [Read more…]

Large trash pick up happens on our side of town on the 15th of every month. We drove around last night to see if there was anything good out yet, and we snagged a trunk load of rocks to use in our garden. They’re actually concrete chunks from a sidewalk that someone took up, but I think they look just as good as the real deal (and I didn’t have to pay for them).

Last year my grape vines produced fruit for the first time. I knew the birds would go after them, but I decided to hold off on netting them until I saw signs of munching. They just seemed too pretty to net. Colossally bad call on my part. I literally went to bed one night with bunches and bunches of grapes and woke up the next morning to none. My vines were only a few days past bloom, and each grape was no bigger than a pea, so I can’t imagine they even tasted good. Rude birds!

Now, we’re on to another season and a new batch of grapes, and this time I’m not wasting any time protecting them. Experts say you don’t need to net your grapes until they start to change color, but that’s not what my own experience tells me. When I went out yesterday and saw that my grapes were about the same size that they were last year when they got gobbled up, I immediately pulled out the bird netting and went to work.

We got one arbor netted and the other will be done by the end of today. Take that you freeloading birds!

Netting Fruit Trees, Bushes and Vines

If you have fruit trees, bushes or vines that the birds like to snack on, netting them is a simple, low-cost way to protect your harvest. Bird netting is available in a wide array of sizes, so you can buy as much or as little as you need for the job.

To net fruit trees or bushes, simply place a net over the top of the tree/bush; pull it taut; and secure the tail end with clothespins, twine or wire. Make sure the netting isn’t laying directly against the fruit, or the birds will still be able to get to it. A teepee made of bamboo that expands beyond the height of the tree/bush is a simple remedy for this problem.

If you don’t want to add netting to your yearly garden chore list, consider building permanent frames around your trees/bushes with a door that you can enter for harvesting.

To net low-growing vines (like strawberries), build a hoop out of PVC or a similar material, and affix the netting to the frame. If you’re netting a long bed, make several smaller hoop frames, so they’ll be light-weight and easy to handle when you need to harvest your fruit.

To net climbing vines (like grapes), wrap the netting all the way around the structure that they’re growing on. To make the job easier, wrap the netting around a 1×4 board before you start. This will allow you to manipulate the netting in much the same way that you would a roll of floral wire.

Over the weekend we turned our overgrown grape arbor into a very cool garden tunnel.

The apricot bushes and apple trees that we have planted on either side of the arbor had completely taken over the path, and you couldn’t walk through without moving limbs out of your way. I’d been debating how to remedy the situation without cutting anything back, and it finally hit me – a garden tunnel!

Not wanting to fork over the money for two more arbors, my husband and I bought a roll of welded wire cattle fencing, and we used that to extend our existing arbor.

These carport posts that we rescued from a curb pile a few weeks back worked perfectly as support posts.